The Meaning of Loneliness
by SpazChan395
Summary: Danny begins to question his existence, specifically how long ghosts live. He visits Clockwork in hopes of an answer, but instead is sent into the future to meet his future self and find his answer. And what he finds, is horrifying. Rated M for violence, blood, and brief mention of sexual content. R&R please!
1. Prologue

This is another fanfic I intended to stay on dA, but decided to go ahead and post it here as well. Basically, there has been a buzz going around about whether Danny is immortal or not, so I decided to give my 2 cents on the matter.

Rated M for graphic violence, blood/gore and briefly mentioned sexual content.

Disclaimer:

Danny Phantom © Butch Hartman and Nickelodeon

**I do not claim to own the DP franchise, I only own this fanfic.**

...

Janet shivered in the cold and buttoned her coat as she headed for home. It had been a long, rough day at the warehouse she worked at and she just wanted to go home and get off her aching feet. She followed the same road she'd walked every night for three months and didn't think anything of what little light there was from the streetlights that were on the verge of burning out.

A train passed loudly overhead on old tracks that should have been torn down years ago, yet were somehow left standing. The screeching and grinding of the metal would have been nearly deafening to most people, but Janet had lived in this area for so long that she could even sleep through it. She sidestepped a puddle from a dripping drain runoff from one of the tall apartment buildings of this shantytown. Her footsteps echoed loudly against the walls as she walked, amplified by the lonely feeling around her.

As the train disappeared and the air was still once more, there came a very quiet sound, a distressed sound, one that is programmed in every mind to respond to. Janet squinted in the dark and saw a bundle of clothing down the street on the sidewalk, and could hear a baby crying. She gasped loudly and rushed toward it in an attempt to rescue the child beneath the fabric.

"There, there," she whispered in a calming voice as she gently picked up the bundle, "It's okay, everything is going to be alright."

But something felt strange; it didn't feel like a baby, more like something hard. The crying sounded repetitive somehow. Was this, really a baby?

Janet was about to pull the blanket away from the figure when she felt a pair of strong hands roughly grab her around her mouth and middle, holding her arms to her sides to keep her from struggling. She dropped the blanket in her arms as she grabbed at his arm in a futile attempt to pry her arms free, her screams muffled under the hand. As the blanket hit the ground something rolled out from under it and Janet stared in horror—it was a tape recorder, repeating the sounds of a baby crying.

She continued to struggle as she was dragged into a dark alley; a husky voice whispered in her ear, "Where do you think you're going little lady?"

Janet heard three other male voices laughing in the alley, only causing her to try to fight harder and scream louder. But at this time of night there was no one out, no one to save her. All she could do was hope these guys didn't want what she thought they wanted. They ripped her purse off her shoulder, along with her pepper spray within it, her only means of defence, all the while laughing at her pitiful struggling as they rummaged through her bag for any valuables. She kicked her feet wildly, but one of the thugs grabbed them and held her fast.

There was the cold sensation of a knife pressed against her throat as she was pushed roughly against the brick wall, "Keep fighting and I'll slit your throat," the man said, the hot stench of his breath against her face.

She pinched her eyes shut as she felt other hands upon her, some pulling up her skirt and others roughly unbuttoning her shirt. Janet was about to give up when she suddenly heard a voice from down the dark alley.

"Hey," the voice of a young boy spoke up, stern yet calm, "Let her go."

The thugs stopped to stare at the boy. He was in a dark baggy hoodie, hands in the oversized pocket, the hood pulled over his head to hide his face. An old backpack swung over both his shoulders, likely containing what little possessions he had; he was obviously a homeless street kid. Janet stared back at him, her eyes pleading for help.

"This doesn't concern you kid," the man that held Janet tight growled, "It's none of your business."

"I'm _making _it my business," he stood his ground, "Now let her go."

They just laughed at him; one of them stepped toward him, "Really? And what're you gonna do about it?"

The boy glanced up slightly, his dull eyes fixed on them, "If you don't, I'll _kill _you."

They simply laughed at him; who does this kid think he is?

One man scoffed, "_You?_ Kill _us_? You've gotta be joking kid! We'd kill _you _before you even got a single hit on us."

"You can't kill me," his words dripping with malice, a chill cut through the already cold air.

The thug picked up a nearby metal pipe and stalked toward him, "I'll shut your mouth, you snot-nosed brat!" and swung the pipe.

There was a loud crack as the pipe came into contact with the side of the boy's skull and flesh, but he didn't move, he didn't even flinch! The man gasped slightly in surprise, then grit his teeth and swung again with loud growl, but this time, his opponent fought back. The boy quickly reached a hand up and blocked the pipe with his forearm before the next strike. He stared at the dumbfounded thug for a moment before jerking the pipe from the man's hand with his own free hand and swung it around at lightening speed. It struck the back of the man's knee, and a loud crack echoed as the bones broke. He fell to the ground with a shriek of pain, holding his knee and rolling on the ground slightly. The boy twirled the pipe in one hand, then tossed it aside and dawned a defensive stance, daring the other men to try their luck against him.

The man with the knife chuckled cockily to himself, releasing Janet and letting her fall to the ground as he walked toward the youngster, "You think you're pretty tough don't you? With one lucky strike?" and jabbed the blade at his chest.

But the boy simply sidestepped the knife with a spin, grabbing the man's arm and pulling him in to elbow him hard in the face, breaking his nose and front teeth, then flipped him and threw him to the ground, "I don't _think_ so, I _know _so," he said matter-of-factly, his demeanor still calm and cool.

The other two men descended upon him, fists ready for a fight. This kid couldn't fight off two people at once, could he? They threw punch after punch at him, but he easily dodged each blow with cat-like agility and reflexes. He wrapped his arm around one man's arm and flipped him over his head, causing him to fall flat on his back and knocking the wind out of him. Then he ducked down as he avoided another fist from the other man, spun his foot around to knock the man's feet from under him and elbowed him in the gut straight into the concrete. The other man on the ground recovered and climbed to his feet, grit his teeth and tried to swing one last punch at the kid. But the boy roundhouse kicked him across the face, knocking him against the wall. The thugs lay on the ground, gripping their injuries and groaning loudly in pain.

The boy stood over them, look of quiet malice on his face, "Leave. Now."

They scrambled to their feet, whimpering in fear. One stopped to lift the man with the broken knee to his only working leg and supported him as they quickly retreated. The boy stood there for several minutes to make sure they really were gone, then turned his attention toward Janet. She knelt on the ground in shock, who was this kid with such tremendous strength?

He walked calmly toward her, "Are you okay?"

She climbed shakily to her feet, placing one hand against the wall for support, "I-I think so," she looked back at him, marveling at his bravery, "You … saved my life."

He didn't seem to pay any mind to her statement, simply bent down to pick up Janet's discarded purse and the miscellaneous items scattered along the ground, then tossed it toward her without looking at her. She fumbled it momentarily in her hands as she watched him walk away without a word, his hands now back in his hoodie pocket as if they'd never left it.

"Wait!" she held her hand toward him, "Please, is there anything I can do to repay you?"

He stopped and paused for a few moments, then spoke without turning around, "Forget you ever saw me," and continued walking.

She stared back at him, and took a few steps forward, "Wait!"

Suddenly, he swiftly jumped high and landed easily on the three-story building at the end of the alley. Janet gasped and covered her mouth. He glanced over his shoulder, then disappeared into the night.

Janet just gaped up at where he had been, completely dumbfounded by what she had seen. Could that really have been him? The legendary … Danny Phantom?


	2. Chapter 1

Decided to upload chapter 1 early, since I think the prologue can't necessarily be called a chapter._  
_

_...  
_

_Geez, what are mom and dad working on now? _Danny asked himself as he munched on an apple. It was almost dinnertime; Maddie was usually upstairs cooking dinner by now. But like most days recently they were wrapped up in some project in their lab and had lost track of time again.

Danny hated going down into the lab; he didn't want to see what they were working on to fight ghosts. Even though most of the gadgets ended in failure, it was still one more weapon they could've used against him. He also hated seeing the ghosts they had locked up, doing who knows what to them. Despite the fact that he fought ghosts, _he _was still a ghost too, and felt some sort of empathy for them.

_Oh well_, he thought to himself as he threw the core away, _Guess I should go remind them what time it is._

With a heavy sigh, Danny stood at the top of the stairs, deciding whether or not he really did want to go down there, "Mom? Dad?" he called down, but didn't get a response, so he figured he might as well go downstairs.

He was about halfway down when he heard a blood-curdling scream of pain. Danny gasped and stopped, pressing his back against the wall. What was that? It wasn't his parents, so what were they doing? Inch by inch, the ghost teen tiptoed down the remaining steps, afraid of what he might see.

When Danny reached the bottom of the stairs, he gripped one side of the door frame and peeked around the corner, "M-mom? Dad?"

His parents were hard at work on something on one of the counters, and didn't seem to notice him come in. They jumped and turned to face him, Maddie smiled when she saw it was only their son.

"Oh hi dear! What are you up to?" she said with a small wave.

"I, uh, just came to tell you that it's almost dinnertime," he was quiet a moment longer before he spoke again, "W-what're you guys doing?"

"Ah, come and see what we've been working on," Jack said in his usual over exuberance.

Danny cautiously made his way toward his parents; that sound he'd heard on the way down wasn't very reassuring about whatever project they had. He stood at the counter and saw a small ghost in a glass container. It looked frightened, shaking in fear and staring at the ghost hunters.

Jack placed his finger on a switch, "Check this out," and flipped it.

A pair of torches ignited and blasted the ghost in burning flames, it howled in anguish once again. It burned for several moments longer before his father flipped the switch again and the flames died down. The ghost in the box sat shaking violently, its form burned crispy.

Danny flinched, "W-what was that about?" he asked, clasping his hands together.

"See honey?" Maddie raised a finger, still smiling, "Did you see what happened?"

"You mean torturing it?" he whispered to himself.

But his parents didn't seem to notice as they continued, "Any normal person would have died from something like this, but this ghost didn't die, or even disappear," Maddie strode down the rest of the counter, where more containers filled with other ghosts sat, each one looked terrified and shrank away as she passed.

"We've tried crushing them," as she demonstrated by pulling a switch on one of the boxes, smashing the ectoplasmic being with a splat, "Electrocuting them," flipping another switch on another box, causing a large bolt of electricity to shock through the ghost, "Even slicing them up," flipping one last switch and blades stabbed and cut through the ghost, dicing it into almost nothing, "And do you notice something?"

Danny stared in mild horror at what his own mother had done, the tiny specters injured, groaning, and trembling in pain. He was afraid to ask, "W-what?"

"None of them died, look at them," Jack pointed.

They were right; if anything like that had happened to a human, they'd be dead right now, but here they were, still moving and 'alive'. But what could this _possibly _be something worth studying? "So, what does this mean? Why are you doing this?"

Maddie picked up a stack of papers and thumbed through them, "Well, we've been doing a lot of research, and we seem to have discovered that ghosts can't 'die', sort of speak," she turned back toward their bewildered son, "Do you know what a ghost is sweetie?"

Danny thought for a few minutes. He'd never really thought about it, since he was so used to fighting them and they always seemed just like normal people, except with ghost powers.

"A ghost is the spirit of a dead person," Maddie continued to elaborate, "And being such, they can't really 'die' again. We've been trying to find out if ghosts really _can't _be destroyed in any way. That they might be immortal."

_Immortal? _Danny thought to himself.

Jack tapped at the glass on one of the containers, the ghost inside whimpering and trying to crawl to the farthest corner away from the man, "We've been trying to figure out if anything can destroy these nasty little things, or if they really _do _just exist forever."

The raven-haired teen just stared in shock, "By torturing them?"

"Sweetie," Maddie laughed lightly, "Ghosts don't have feelings, they can't feel pain or emotion."

"How do you know that?" he glared slightly.

"Well, they're dead," Jack said simply, "And dead things can't feel anything."

_Dead?_ Danny thought as he swallowed hard at the thought. If ghosts were dead, then … did that mean _he _was dead too? He'd never thought of that before, since he still felt like his normal self, and didn't really feel like he'd really changed much since the accident. Other than gaining his powers that is.

Maddie continued, "We're trying to find out if there's any way we can harness that ability, and make humans immortal too."

"Yeah," Jack wrinkled his nose, "So _we_ don't end up like these _things_," he said in disgust.

Danny raised an eyebrow, "And what's so wrong with being a ghost?"

"Everything!" his father boomed as he swatted one of the tanks, "They're slimy, gooey, and just downright gross. I certainly wouldn't want to become one of them."

_I __**am**__ one of those slimy, gooey, gross things, _Danny clenched his fists at his sides, then his stomach growled loudly.

Maddie looked at him and giggled slightly, "Aww, you must be hungry," she ruffled her son's hair and walked passed him, "I'll get dinner started."

Jack followed her, then turned to Danny, "Now don't let any of these ghosts out. We don't know what they might do it they got loose in the lab," and left his son alone with his thoughts.

"Ghosts? Immortal?" he said quietly to himself.

He then turned to the glass containers filled with frightened ghosts, each staring at him, pleading for help. Danny couldn't just leave them here to be tortured, so against his father's wishes, he quickly made for the tanks and opened each with a lever. The ghosts burst out, cheering quietly in relief.

The raven-haired teen dashed to the ghost portal and entered the code to unlock it, "You guys better get out of here before my parents get back."

They didn't need to be told twice, and rushed toward their freedom into the ghost zone.

Danny paused for a moment, "Wait!"

One of the ghosts stopped to look at him, waiting for whatever he wanted. Danny swallowed before he asked his question, "H-how old are you?"

The ghost studied him momentarily before it simply said, "643 human years old," then followed its comrades into the portal.

Danny closed the portal behind them, reflecting on everything his parents had said, and how old that ghost said it was. _What really **i**__**s**__ a ghost?_ he'd never thought about it before, _And if __**I'm**__ a ghost, what does that mean?_

Danny quickly finished his dinner and ran up to his room to log into the internet. All he could think about all throughout dinner was what ghosts really were, and how long they could 'live'. He'd decided to try to do a little research about it and see if he could find any answers.

He thought of how the best way to phrase it would be, but he simply typed in, _What is a ghost? _The first thing that popped up was a quote:

_Ghosts are thought to be the disembodied spirits or souls of the deceased who continue to interact with the living world. There is no scientific evidence to support their existence._

Danny raised an eyebrow and scoffed, rereading the passage, "No scientific evidence my butt," and typed in _What is a disembodied spirit?_

He clicked the link to a definition: _Noun1. disembodied spirit - any incorporeal supernatural being that can become visible (or audible) to human beings._

Danny spent the next several hours on the internet, into the late hours of the next morning. Following link after link, reading page after page, he still felt like he'd found nothing that could answer his question. He _did _however stumble across random bits of information like a Spirit being a car from the '80s and also being a distilled alcoholic beverage. It was maddening at how little he'd learned about a question that seemed so simple.

Maybe Sam had a book about it, since she collected so many books about supernatural and occult subjects. But he didn't want Sam and Tucker to know what he was researching—something as macabre as this. Danny didn't want to worry his friends if he discovered the truth that he hoped wasn't real, so he resolved to continue his search alone.

But how was he going to find any answers? The internet wasn't much help, so could he ask someone? Of course! Clockwork. He knew everything about past, present, and future, so he'd _have _to know the truth. But Danny would have to go to Clockwork alone, and he'd have to come up with a valid excuse as to why he couldn't hang out with Sam and Tucker today.

...

"Your dad's taking you fishing again?" Sam asked over the phone.

"Yeah, it's kinda last minute. I didn't even know he wanted to go until this morning. He wants more 'family bonding time' I guess," Danny tried to sound like he didn't want to go.

Sam paused, "Can't you skip it this time?"

"Not really," he fiddled with the phone cord nervously, "My whole family is going, and they'll give me a major guilt trip if I try to say no."

"Alright, do you know when you'll be back?"

"Hopefully tomorrow night, as long as the RV doesn't break down, it's been acting funny lately," trying to see if he could stall for more time away.

"Well, just let us know when you're back, maybe we'll go see that new Vampire Slayer movie that came out."

"Sounds good to me," Danny paused as if pretending his parents were calling him, "Coming!" he shouted away from the speaker, "I gotta go, I'll see you guys tomorrow."

"Okay, have fun, see you tomorrow," Sam sounded sad as they both hung up.

The raven-haired teen sighed deeply, hoping she bought it. He didn't like lying to his friends, especially Sam. Tucker had been a lot easier to convince. He didn't really ask a lot of questions, just joked about Danny making sure some mutant man-eating trout didn't eat him. Regardless of if they were convinced or not, this was something Danny had to do alone.

With another sigh, Danny crept to the top of the stairs to the basement and carefully made his way down. Jack and Maddie had gone on another tip about a ghost nearby, and Jazz was up in her room reading her books, and as long as he didn't make any sound that might alert her, he'd be able to successfully make it down to the lab without her noticing.

Danny hadn't realized he was already in the lab until he found himself standing in front of the ghost portal. He hesitated for several minutes, prepping himself for his mission and willing himself to go. The smallest part of his mind told him to go back upstairs and carry on like nothing had happened, but the urge to find out the truth was too strong.

"Well," he said to himself as he changed into his ghost form for the trip, his hair turning silver and eyes turning green, "Let's get going," as he paused one last time before entering the portal.

He'd traveled into the ghost zone many times on his own, but right now, with the task he had at hand, everything around him felt suffocating. Danny flew passed a few smaller ghosts, who were carrying about their normal daily business. The ghost teen idly wondered about what they knew about the lifespan of a ghost, or simply what a ghost really was. But he didn't have time, and there was only one ghost who would know for sure what the answers were.

For some reason, this particular trip to Clockwork's world seemed like it took longer. But regardless, Danny made it, and stood outside the heavy gates of the ancient ghost's home, still hesitant about what he was going to ask. Or at least, how he was going to ask it. _I've come too far to turn back now, _he thought to himself as he placed both his hands on the gate and carefully pushed it open.

Clockwork's world always gave him chills; the turning gears, the ever-dark presence, and mostly what lay within. He walked to the main hall, where he knew the ancient ghost would be, forever watching time and keeping it in balance.

"Clockwork?" he called quietly, as if expecting to be attacked, even if he knew Clockwork would never do such a thing to him.

There was a long pause before the old ghost materialized in front of him, causing the teen to jump in surprise, "Danny? What brings you here?"

His voice always sent a shiver up the Danny's body, "I, uh, I came to ask you a few questions. And since you're the keeper of time, I thought you might be the best person to help me."

Clockwork eyed him watchfully, "Oh? And what is that?"

Danny swallowed and fiddled with his fingers, "Well, I don't really know how to put this any other way, so I guess I'll just be blunt about it … are ghosts immortal? A-and if I'm half ghost, would that make me … immortal too?"

The ancient ghost raised an eyebrow, "This is a very sudden, and if I might add, grim question. Why do you ask?"

"Well," the teen scratched behind his head, "My parents have been doing a lot of research about it, and have done a lot of different experiments on ghosts, and they think that ghosts can't die. You know, since ghosts are supposed to be spirits of the dead and all."

Clockwork paused, "It is true, ghosts were once living beings who have passed on."

"But, if a ghost is really a dead person, does that mean … they can't die again?" there was a long pause between the pair, "Is a ghost really living or dead?"

Another pause, then Clockwork sighed and turned around, "Follow me."

Danny did as he was told as the ancient ghost continued to speak, "It is true that ghosts cannot 'die', since they are already dead. But it's not really a matter of whether they are immortal, rather they simply continue to exist. The essence of a ghost cannot be destroyed, and they can continue to 'live' forever," Clockwork paused in front of several of his portals to the past and future, "Not every human can become a ghost though. Some simply fade away from existence, their 'souls' as one might say just move on. However, others _do _become ghosts and come to exist here in the ghost zone."

"But, I'm half ghost. So … would _I_ just 'continue to exist' or something? I know ghosts can grow older, I saw that when you sent me to the future before. And _I _had aged in the future too."

"Some ghosts _do _grow older, some age at a much slower rate than humans, even if it isn't always physical. It all depends on the manner in which they died in their previous life. But as they age, they still exist, aging until they are ancient and withered, but still keep on 'living'."

" … is that what will happen to me?"

Clockwork paused in front one portal in particular, "I believe it's best if you ask yourself that."

"But I _have _been asking myself that, I've been trying to find out by myself, and I can't figure—"

"I don't mean asking yourself as you are _now_," Clockwork interrupted him, "I mean asking _him_," and pointed his staff toward the portal.

Danny hesitated, afraid of what Clockwork was about to show him, then decided to at least take a look. He stepped forward and gazed through the green spiral before it parted. There was a young boy in a dirty hoodie, the hood pulled over his head, and his hands in his pockets as he walked through a crowd of people. He kept his eyes to the ground and ignored everything around him, his dark hair covering his eyes. Danny couldn't see his face, but instinctively knew who it was.

"I-is that _me_?" he said quietly, mostly to himself.

"Yes," Clockwork moved to the side, "That is you in the future."

Danny just gaped at the figure, "What time in the future is this?"

"It's not important," Clockwork said as he turned away, "What _is _important is finding your answers from him."

The ghost teen turned back toward him, "But why can't _you _just tell me?"

Clockwork paused again, "I believe it's best for you to experience it for yourself. Besides, in some ways, he is far wiser than even _I _am."

"But, how can I ask him, unless … are you sending me there?"

"Yes, this is something you must see for yourself. You must find him and speak with him yourself."

"With one of those pendants?" Danny continued to fiddle with his fingers, "H-how will I be able to stay there? It could fall off or something before I even had the chance to find him," remembering how easily they could be lost or were taken off either by force or accident.

The ancient ghost made his way toward a rack of where those same pendants were hung, but he picked up something different and brought it to Danny. It was a simple watch; at first glance it looked like just any normal watch from his time, but this one was different.

"This is a new time travel device I've been working on. This is meant to keep you in a certain timeline for a specific amount of time. The time is set for how long you are going to be staying there, and when that time is up, it will bring you right back here," and handed it carefully to the ghost teen.

Danny rolled it around in his hands, studying the face and the design. There were three small square dials beneath the thin glass, tiny writing under each. The far left read 'days', the center 'hours', and the last 'minutes'.

"Those represent how much time you have left in your particular destination, it will count down from the beginning of your arrival until the time of your departure," Clockwork carefully wrapped it around the young boy's wrist and turned a few knobs on the side, "You will have three days to find your future self and learn from him before you are brought back to the present."

"Wait! What will I say? How can I find him? Where am I going?" Danny felt panic setting in as he realized what was about to happen to him.

"When the time comes, you will know what to say. If you are not be able to find him, _he _will find you," Clockwork held the knobs in place for a moment longer, "I have one last piece of advice for you: do not use your ghost powers. There are people watching, and they will be able to find you if you use them."

"Hold on! What people? Why are they looking for—"

Clockwork released Danny's wrist, and everything began spinning as a flash of light enveloped him. There was a strong tingling sensation throughout his body. It was painful, and Danny could feel himself being forced back into his human form. He pinched his eyes shut and curled in on himself as the feeling grew stronger and everything began spinning faster. His stomach began churning violently, and he could only hope he wouldn't be sick.

Suddenly, the flashing light and the spinning stopped almost as quickly as it began. The raven-haired teen could feel he was now lying on the ground. Slowly, he opened one eye and realized he was no longer in Clockwork's home. The ground was now concrete, not the tiles of the ancient ghost's floor. The air felt different, his body felt different. Was he … in the future?

Danny cautiously crawled to his feet, his head throbbing and sight blurred. He gripped his head with one hand and shook it slightly to try to clear his vision. As his eyes focused, he looked up at his surroundings, and was completely taken aback by what he saw.


	3. Chapter 2

_Is this really the future?_ Danny thought to himself as he stared at his new surroundings. It was nothing like what comic books and TV shows made it out to be. There were no hover cars, no teleporters, not even robots walking around. If anything, it was far from what the future was _supposed _to look like. Instead, it looked like a barren wasteland. Buildings and skyscrapers cracked and crumbling from age. Even the pavement was worn and eroding away. Garbage bags piled on the street corners, and a heavy polluted smell filled the air. The sky was a foul-looking color of grey rather than the beautiful bright blue it was in his time. Everything was dull, filthy, falling apart and relatively lifeless.

The people of this city, if it could be _called_ a city, seemed just as dull and lifeless. They weren't dressed in the futuristic clothes portrayed in comic books, instead wore simple clothing, mostly like those of the present. Style didn't seem to have aged; people still wore t-shirts, jeans, slacks, tank tops, and jackets. Everyone looked sad and somehow hollow, and didn't seem to notice each other as they carried on about their daily business. It was as if all the life had been sucked out of the world. _Clockwork must have made some sort of mistake,_ the raven-haired teen rubbed his eyes, _This __**can't**__ be the future. _But it was, and it was a depressing sight.

Danny was so caught up in the sight that he almost didn't notice the taxi speeding down the road. He saw it just in time to leap out of the way before he was hit. The driver didn't stop, swerve, or even slow down, as if he didn't even care if he had hit him. After that brief incident, Danny decided it was best to stay on the sidewalk and joined the sparse crowd.

He fiddled with his hands as he walked through the crowd in no direction in particular, just staring at everything around him. Was this even Amity Park? Where was he even supposed to _go_? How was he going to find his future self in a place like this? Danny just kept walking; that's all he really could do. If only Clockwork had given him some sort of map, or any other details about how to even find his way in this place.

There was a newspaper stand just up ahead with post cards and junk like the ones for tourists. Maybe he could find something there that might give him any sort of hint as to where he even was, or maybe they even sold maps. He walked quickly toward it and grabbed one of the papers. The cover was so depressing; the front-page headline was about a fire burning down a city block, killing twenty-four people and injuring sixty-seven more. Other articles described how poverty had risen by nearly seventy percent, mortality rates at forty percent higher than they had been five years ago, and so on.

Seriously, was _this_ a future he had to look forward to? What date was it even anyway? Danny glanced up at the date and his heart nearly stopped. _2516?!_ Clockwork sent him over _five hundred years_ into the future?! Wait, he would still be _alive _in this time?! Mind officially blown.

"Hey kid," a gruff voice barked at him, "You gonna pay for that or what?"

Danny felt around in his pocket and didn't feel any loose change, so he simply set the paper and briskly walked away. His mind reeled with the thought that he would live so long; maybe that had already answered his question about whether he was immortal or not. If it did … why would Clockwork send him here and not just _tell _him? There had to be something else behind it, but what?

Suddenly, a woman screamed from down the street and he was brought back to the moment at hand. There was a man running down the sidewalk through the crowd, carrying her purse. No one even tried to stop him, just kept walking and minding their own business. Danny wouldn't stand for this and readied himself to take down the crook, then Clockwork's words echoed in his head, _"Do not use your ghost powers. There are people watching, and they will be able to find you if you use them." _He didn't realize the man was right on top of him until he was violently shoved to the side, smacking into the brick wall of the building next to him. He fell in a heap on the ground, rubbing his now sore shoulder as the thug continued to run.

"Outta the way kid!" he shouted as he ran passed.

The woman had tried to run after the man but couldn't catch him and stopped, panting in exhaustion before turning to Danny, "Why didn't you try to stop him?!"

The raven-haired teen opened his mouth to say something, _anything_, but what excuse could he give her? He just stood up shamefully and walked away, unable to look the woman in the eye after he'd just let that guy get away. Some hero _he _was.

As he continued to wander, he glanced down at the watch Clockwork gave him. It read 2:22:14. He felt like he'd wasted too much time already, and just kept moving. The ancient ghost told him that if he couldn't find his future self, then _he_ would find _him_. But how were either of them going to find each other in this place?

In only a few short hours, it was starting to get dark. Danny would have to find somewhere to go for the night at least, but where? It wasn't like he had a house to go to, and he certainly didn't have any money to rent a room at a motel or something. Maybe he'd have to sleep in the street? He didn't like the idea, but it was starting to become more and more likely that he'd have to. His stomach growled loudly in hunger; he hadn't eaten a thing since he'd gotten to this world and was really starting to feel his hunger pangs.

A train passed noisily overhead and the teen had to cover his ears as the rails screeched and creaked dangerously. He hadn't even realized a train like this would still exist after so many years, shouldn't it be one of the electric bullet trains that everyone thought would be in the future? Danny was starting to slowly realize that in this time, it was as if he'd more like traveled _back _in time rather than forward.

He hadn't noticed he was being followed until he heard the sound of footsteps around him and turned around. There was a man, obviously from some sort of gang, walking casually behind him, a smirk across his face. Danny decided to walk faster, maybe try to get away from him, but soon saw another man ahead of him and he stopped. Other men started to surround him, laughing quietly to themselves.

Danny swallowed and spoke awkwardly, "H-hey guys, what's up?"

One laughed at him again, "You're on the wrong side of town kid," and lightly pounded a fist against his palm, "This is Blood territory, and you're trespassing."

"Oh, this is _your_ part of town?" he held up his hands defensively, "I'm sorry, I-I didn't know this was _your _territory. I'll just be leaving now," and backed away slowly.

But the man behind him just shoved him roughly, "Where do ya think _you're _going?"

"A-away?" he tried to back in another direction, but there were other men that way as well.

"Well, we can't just letcha leave now, can we?" another descended upon him, "We hafta teach ya a lesson about wandering into places ya shouldn't be."

Danny gasped and turned to run, to try to escape them before they could completely surround him. He tripped on a wide crack in the road and fell face first against the pavement. Before he could try to get back to his feet, he felt two pairs of hands grasp either of his arms and hoist him up off his feet. They held him firm as he kicked his feet desperately to try to break their hold on him. But he knew it was useless, there were too many of them, and they were all bigger than he was.

There was a sharp pain in his stomach as one of the thugs punched him hard in the gut. The two men released Danny and he fell to his knees, holding his middle painfully. Another kicked him in the side of his ribs, causing him to fall to the side. All Danny could do was curl up and cover his head with his hands as the men began kicking and beating him violently. If only there was something he could do! Clockwork's words echoed in his head once more about not using his ghost powers, but what else could he do? He finally resolved to only use something small, and fired a small ecto-beam from his finger, grazing one of the thugs' shoulders.

The man stumbled back and gripped his shoulder, "The kid's got a gun!"

Danny fired another small blast at another man, hitting him in the thigh and causing him to fall to one knee, "Shit! Let's get outta here!" as they fled like a bunch of cowards. All talk and no substance.

The ghost teen just lay on the ground, still curled tightly in a ball, shaking from pain and shock. He closed his eyes tightly to try to keep from crying. What kind of cruel world _was _this? People could just beat kids senseless without any remorse? If he hadn't used his ghost powers, who knows how far they would've gone. Probably beaten him within an inch of his life.

Suddenly, Danny heard footsteps running toward him and he braced himself in case it was those thugs coming back to finish him off. But he soon realized the footsteps were from high heels and looked up to see a young woman kneeling next to him.

She placed a hand on his shoulder, "Oh my gosh! Are you okay little boy?"

He only looked up at her pitifully, his stomach hurt too much for him to speak. The woman swung her purse over her shoulder and tried to help him stand. His legs were shaky and he couldn't even support his own weight.

"Are you lost?" the woman asked as she helped hold him up, "Where's your house? Where are your parents?"

Danny didn't say anything, just trying to maintain his balance and stared at the ground. That said everything as the woman realized he had nowhere to go, and led him carefully to her car that he hadn't even noticed she'd pulled up in, "Here, I'll take you home and care of you. It'll be okay."

He was hesitant at first, but right now, he didn't really want to argue or turn down her kindness after what he'd been through. She opened the passenger door and helped him inside. After buckling him in, she carefully closed the door and got into the driver's seat and slowly drove off in some unknown direction. Danny didn't really care where he was going at this point, just as long as it was far from this place and hopefully somewhere safe in this world.

She told him along the way that her name was Barbara, and that she was on her way home from her job at a diner nearby. Danny decided to give her some random name and told her his name was Dillon, not really wanting to tell her his real name. In no time at all, they arrived at her home and she carefully brought him inside. It was a cozy place, small yet simple, shared by her younger brother, mother, father, and grandmother. They didn't seem too happy at first about Barbara bringing home yet _another _stray kid, but when she told them what happened with the thugs and they looked over his injuries, they relented and allowed him to stay. The family didn't have much to offer, having very little themselves, but agreed to let him sleep on their couch for the night, gave him a small blanket and even shared with him their meager dinner of some sort of stew. Danny took it gratefully and couldn't seem to shovel it down fast enough to fill his empty stomach. It was nice that, even in this cold cruel world, there were still people kind enough to take in a complete stranger in need of help.

"So where are you from?" Barbara asked, placing a hand on his back as he practically licked the bowl clean.

Danny didn't really know what to say, "I'm from … Amity Park. I came here to find someone … but I don't know where to go."

"You came all the way from Amity Park?" the young boy leaned in with excitement, "That's really far away, like, a bazillion miles away!"

"No Billy," Barbara rolled her eyes, "That's more like two thousand miles away."

"Who are you looking for?" the father changed the subject as he sat in his old lazy boy.

" … I don't think you know him," the raven-haired teen said quietly.

"Well, we might be able to help," he sipped from a coffee mug, "I work as a handy man, and traveling around the city with my job, I know most everyone."

Danny bowed his head as he rolled the bowl in his hands, " … you'll probably laugh, but … " he sighed and just decided to say it, "I'm looking for Danny Phantom."

There was a long pause between everyone before the grandmother finally spoke as she held her rocking chair still, "Did you say … Danny Phantom?"

He looked up at the old woman and nodded. Then the mother just laughed, "You're looking for 'Danny Phantom'?" as she took the empty bowl from him, "That's just some old myth."

"That's not true!" the grandmother said quickly, "He _does _exist! I've seen him!"

Danny perked up slightly, "You know Danny Phantom?"

The mother scoffed, "No, Grandma Janet doesn't know what she's talking about. Some homeless kid rescued her from some thugs years ago and she's been going on about 'Danny Phantom' ever since."

The older woman snorted in irritation, "Think what you want child, but I've seen him with my own eyes. And if it wasn't for him, I wouldn't be alive today, and you and Barbara wouldn't exist," she leaned forward on her cane, "Do you know about the legend of Danny Phantom?"

"Kinda, not much,"_ Of course I know, _but decided to listen to her words, since they may hold a clue as to how to find him, "What is it really?"

Grandma Janet smiled and began to her story, "A long time ago, over half a century or so, there lived a young boy, who was half human and half ghost. He was a super hero in his hometown, and even to other nearby cities. He fought against other ghosts that would come to this world to do harm to humans. Those who knew him said he was kind, somewhat shy, and cared about everyone before himself. They say he had hair white as snow, eyes glowing green, and suit black as night."

_Wow,_ Danny raised his eyebrows, _she sure seems to know a lot._

"But there were people in the world who didn't see him as a hero. They saw him as a freak, a monster, and wanted to capture him and lock him up to study him. After many years of fighting ghosts and protecting the city, he disappeared without a trace, without a word. No one heard of his passing, he just simply vanished. But some people, the ones that still believe in him, say that to this day he still wanders the earth, under the disguise of a human, helping people when they're in danger."

The raven-haired teen just stared in awe as she finished her story, "But what about those people who were looking for him? Did they catch him?"

Grandma Janet leaned back and smiled once again, "I don't think so, otherwise they wouldn't still be looking for him."

"W-who are 'they'?"

The old woman was about to speak when the mother cut her off, "It doesn't matter. There's no such thing as ghosts, and there certainly was never a Danny Phantom."

_No such thing as ghosts, _Danny scoffed inwardly. He watched as Barbara's mother left the room to clean up dinner plates, then leaned in toward Grandma Janet and whispered quietly, "I believe you, I've seen him too," the old woman seemed to perk up, "Do you know how I can find him?"

Grandma Janet leaned in even closer to whisper back, "I might, why are you looking for him?"

"I … I've just been wanting to ask him something … I traveled all the way from Amity Park to meet him," as he fidgeted with his feet.

The old woman studied him a moment longer, then stood up with the help of her cane, "Come with me child," and walked toward the small hallway.

Danny hesitated momentarily, then got up from the couch, still wrapped in the blanket and followed her. She led him to a small room, presumably her bedroom, and sat down slowly in a chair in front of her dresser. Sliding one of the drawers open, she took out several faded photos, old newspaper clippings, and pages with scribbled writing and allowed Danny to look through them. He recognized himself in the photos, and read the articles about how he saved the day once again.

"I've been trying to track him down for almost seventy years to thank him for saving my life. Every time I think I'm close, he slips right between my fingers," then reached back into the drawer and pulled out a folded piece of paper, "My daughter refuses to help me continue my search, and I'm too old to go out there alone. But I believe I've tracked him around here," and unfolded the paper, which turned out to be a map, and pointed to a circled area of the city, "I don't know exactly where he is from there, but that's the closest I've gotten to him. I believe he's about one mile somewhere within this area."

Danny's eyes widened in excitement at the thought that he might actually still be able to find his future self. The old woman saw his face light up after she showed him the map, "Can I trust you to help find him for me?"

**"Absolutely!" **the raven-haired teen practically shouted, a wide grin painted across his face.

Grandma Janet smiled just as brightly as she carefully placed the map in his hands, and fished out several strange looking coins she'd kept safe all these years, "In the morning, take the 7:15 bus at the stop down the street. From there, get off at the sixth stop, that will drop you off right here," and pointed to an area just on the edge of the circle, "After that, you'll be on your own."

Danny couldn't believe what he was hearing; he might actually be able to find him! He threw his arms tightly around the old woman, _**"Thankyouthankyouthankyou!**_** You can count on me! I'll find him!"**

She returned his hug, "I know you will child, but I have one last favor to ask you."

**"Anything you want!"**

She laughed lightly and released him, "When you find him, can you give him this for me?" and handed him an old envelope.

"Of course!" he shook with excitement, and carefully put the map and folded paper in his pocket.

Grandma Janet laughed again, then quietly shooed him, "Now off to bed with you, you have a big day tomorrow and you need to rest up."

Danny nodded and practically skipped back to the couch, plopped himself down and closed his eyes tightly as he attempted to fall asleep. But how could he sleep? Tomorrow he was finally going to find and meet his future self!


	4. Chapter 3

Needless to say, Danny hardly slept a wink that night. How could he? Time was running out faster than he would've liked. He just lay there all night, the small blanket pulled up to his chin as he just stared at the ceiling, counting cracks in the plaster as if counting sheep to try to get some sleep.

_I wonder what my future self is like_, the raven-haired teen thought to himself, practically shivering in excitement as his thoughts drifted away from his attempts to sleep, _Maybe he has a secret 'bat cave' or something where he watches over the city. _Then his thoughts drifted to who these people were that were supposedly trying to capture him and what exactly they wanted from him.

"No, go to sleep," Danny whispered to himself as he rolled over. He glanced up at the slightly glowing clock on the wall, which read 4:03. Only a few short hours until he had to find the bus stop and his journey could continue. It seemed like so far away, and he briefly thought about just going out now and waiting at the bus stop, but at night in the dark alone wasn't a very good idea in case he ran into any more thugs. So he had to play the waiting game, and he hated waiting.

...

A watched pot never boils, and a watched clock never ticks. Danny managed to close his eyes for about two hours before the kitchen light woke him up as Barbara's mother came to make breakfast for her family. She offered him some breakfast as well, which he was very grateful for her hospitality. It was simple oatmeal, and Danny quickly gobbled his bowl up just as the rest of the household started to wake up. He told them he had to get going and continue his search, even though he knew they thought he was probably crazy, and thanked them for graciously taking him in. Barbara insisted he take some sandwiches with him for his journey and gave him a small brown paper bag. He thanked them once more and quickly headed down the street to find the bus stop.

It wasn't far, so he was early and had to wait, why with all this waiting? It was wasting too much time! But he didn't have much choice at the moment. Danny scratched behind his head and yawned loudly, regretting that he hadn't tried harder to fall asleep. He couldn't even sleep on the bus since he had to pay attention to which stop he had to get off at the right stop.

A small group of people were starting to gather at the stop to wait for the same bus. They didn't really talk to each other, but there wasn't really much to say anyway as they all waited to go to work and carry on with their lives as normal. It wasn't much longer until the old rundown bus pulled up and the doors squealed open on its old hinges. Everyone began filing in, dropping their coins into the change box. Danny had almost forgot about the money Grandma Janet gave him and quickly fished it out of his pocket as the crowd practically forced him up the steps inside.

The raven-haired teen carefully made his way toward a seat near the back for some privacy and sat down heavily on the torn vinyl. There still weren't very many people on the bus, so for the time being he had the back to himself. He carefully pulled the map from his pocket and unfolded it, deciding to preoccupy himself with studying it to make sure he'd even know where he was going. There was scribbled writing and sketches on the paper where Grandma Janet had been plotting a course of where to search first, and Danny laughed lightly at some of the funny names of streets.

It looked like she was planning on going to the very center of the circled area then working her way out around the other streets. Seemed like a simple enough plan, and it wasn't really like he had formulated a plan of how to search, just where he was supposed to go and hopefully find himself. Well, If Grandma Janet had been searching all these years, then he trusted her judgement on the map.

The bus slowed to a stop and Danny looked as more people began filing in, "First stop," he said quietly to himself as he made sure he was keeping track of how many stops the bus was making. The last thing he wanted to do was get off at the wrong stop and start his search at the wrong place and waste even more time.

...

Danny was so lost in his thoughts that, even though he was doing his best to keep track of the stops, he almost missed _his _stop. He jumped up out of his seat and made it to the door just in time before the bus pulled away. The sun had risen just over the buildings as the morning progressed, the subdued light barely visible through the smoggy poisonous atmosphere. The cloudy sky always looked like it would rain, but it was hard to tell if they were storm clouds or just the pollution. He looked down at his watch to see how much time he had left. 2:04:43. He had just over two days left, and hopefully he'd find himself in time.

With a deep sigh, Danny puffed up his chest in determination and took the first step down the sidewalk toward the area Grandma Janet had highlighted. This place seemed even more rundown and dirty than where he was when he first came to this time, like he'd just hit the slums or the 'ghetto' edge of the city. Why would he be living _here _in the future?

He just kept walking, keeping the map close as he watched for which streets he needed to turn down and making sure he didn't drop his paper bag. There was a short concrete wall to his right and a road to his left as it forked into a three-way stop. Danny studied the map closely to see if he was supposed to go left or keep going straight when a quiet meow startled him. He nearly jumped out of his skin as he faced the concrete wall. There was a cute little grey cat peeking over the wall, all that was visible was its face and front paws as it clung to the edge of the wall to see him.

Danny sighed in relief, "Geez, you scared me," and smiled as he reached up to pet it.

It meowed again and jumped up on the wall just before Danny's hand made contact. He gasped and retracted his hand in horror when he saw its full body. It had the head, feet and tail of a normal cat, but its body was square and flat and looked like … a pop tart with … pink frosting and sprinkles? It smiled at him then shouted, "NYAAAAAAAAAN!"

**"AAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH!"** Danny shouted as he took off down the sidewalk. He glanced over his shoulder and saw that it was chasing him, hopping along the concrete wall after him, a streaming rainbow left in its trail as it seemed to sing 'nyan' over and over again. What the hell kind of cat _was _this?!

Danny veered off into an alleyway between a pair of tall buildings. The cat bounced off the concrete and chased after him down the alley, bouncing off the wall of the building to make the turn. There was a broken wooden fence at the end of the alley and the raven-haired teen clumsily climbed over, landed on his rear and scrambled to his feet. He thought he'd lost the cat when he saw it hop easily over the fence and continued after him.

He hadn't realized he'd run out into the street and didn't see the truck barreling down toward him. The horn blared loudly and he spun to face it. There was no time to react, so he just shielded his eyes and waited for impact. Just before he became one with the pavement, he felt the cat bounce off him, knocking him out of the path of the truck and causing him to roll across the street and into a parked car. The cat ran up the wall of a nearby building, leaving a rainbow in its wake, and hopped over the rooftops. The rainbow began to fade as it moved further away, and Danny shakily got to his feet and quickly jumped into the sidewalk out of the road, somehow managing to hold onto the map and bag of sandwiches as he watched the cat run away.

"Looks like you ran into the Nyan Cat," came a voice behind him.

Danny jumped and turned around. There was a dirty man sitting in the sidewalk, holding a cardboard sign reading 'Homeless, Need Food' and petting a flea infested black and white dog. He was dressed in torn filthy clothes, having obviously been wearing them for years.

"What the _hell _was that thing?!" the raven-haired teen shouted, still panting heavily and shaking from the chase. Is this what the cats of the future were like?!

The man laughed, "That was the Nyan Cat. People say it came from outer space many years ago. It runs around singing what we call 'The Nyan Song', it's catchy, but still annoying. It doesn't hurt anyone, just scares them."

Danny started to calm down, but what the man said next caught his attention.

"Some kid has been chasing after it and keeps talking about wanting to eat it."

"What kid?" he asked quickly.

"Just some homeless kid. I've only seen him a couple times, and he's almost fast enough to keep up with—"

"Do you know where he is? Do you know how I can find him?" Danny clenched his fists tightly in excitement.

The man eyed him carefully, "I don't really know _exactly _where he lives, he walks all over the city and usually keeps to himself. Why? Are you looking for him?"

"I just need to ask him something," the raven-haired teen knelt next to the man and held up the map, "Do you at least know where he _most likely _lives? And where am I for that matter?"

The man studied the map closely, then pulled a marker out he'd likely used to draw the sign and circled a smaller area within the area Grandma Janet had circled, "I've seen him a couple times around here, but I don't know for sure if he really lives there. And we are … " he thought for a moment then pointed to an area of the map, "Here."

"Couldn't hurt to try looking there," Danny said mostly to himself as he stood up, then reached into the paper bag, pulled out one of the sandwiches and handed it to the man, "Thanks for your help."

"Wow! Thanks kid!" he took the sandwich gratefully and shoved almost half of it into his mouth, his dog wagging its tail happily as it waited for its master to give it scraps.

Danny briskly walked down the street toward the circled part on the map. He was still quite a way away from where his future self probably was, but this at least narrowed it down. There was a new found spring in his step as his journey continued.

...

Each step was one step closer to finding his future self, but this was just taking too many steps. Was Danny going in circles? Was he reading the map wrong? No, he was studying the map too closely to be lost. It was probably just a really big area, but Grandma Janet had told him it was about a mile wide area she circled, and even smaller where the homeless man circled. Were they both wrong?

Danny was getting extremely frustrated at the feeling that he was still in the wrong area. He sat on the sidewalk, eating a sandwich as he continued to study the map, making sure he was following the right streets by name and number. If only he had a compass or something, that would make this _much _easier. Just when he was about to finish off his food, he gasped as a wisp of blue mist wafted off his breath. Could it be … ?

Suddenly, he saw a streak of black fly passed, and barely caught a glimpse of the silver hair as it sped off. That _had _to be him! Danny jumped up and chased after the figure, awkwardly folding the map and stuffing it in his pocket as he ran.

"Danny! Wait!" he called after him, trying to get his attention.

He chased him down an alley toward a wide, fairly empty parking lot by what looked like a pier by a large body of water. There were a couple cars, and an open dumpster. The figure touched down on the concrete, still facing away from him, but Danny easily recognized the black spandex suit and silver hair. But he was somehow different …

The raven-haired teen had suddenly become very cautious as he took a few steps forward, "Danny?" but he didn't get a response, "Danny Phantom?"

He still didn't get any response, but did notice the blue wisp of smoke coming from the ghost's mouth from his ghost sense, even though he was still facing away. Danny noticed something on the back of his neck, just beneath the base of his hair. It looked like some kind of mechanical device attached to his neck and skull, but what was it?

The ghost turned around slowly to face him, and that's when Danny realized it wasn't his future self. Along the figure's arms and down its sides were small openings with wires slightly exposed and what looked like ports for plug-ins. His eyes weren't normal eyes; the irises appeared to be ribbed and opened and closed as they adjusted to the light and focused on him. Was that … a robot?

"Target located," it spoke in a monotone robotic voice, "Sending signal. Preparing to restrain target."

_Restrain?_ Danny thought as he shuddered as the robotic ghost took a step toward him. This _wasn't_ his future self! But what _was _it?

Suddenly, the ghost lunged toward Danny and punched him hard in the stomach, and the teen could feel metal under the outer flesh of the knuckles. He about fell to his knees, but received a vicious roundhouse kick to the face, knocking him face first into the ground. The android grabbed the back of his head and shoved his face hard against the pavement, then roughly twisted his arm behind his back and held him firmly to the ground. The raven-haired teen tried to struggle, but his opponent held him firmly.

Danny's ghost fighting instincts kicked in as he turned intangible to escape the grasp, rolled to the side and flipped to his feet, dawning a fighting stance as he prepared for the inevitable battle, "What _are _you?!" he shouted.

The ghost back flipped away to gain its footing, then flew high and fired an ecto-blast. Danny rolled to the side and managed to dodge the attack. It fired several more blasts at him, but he managed to put up a shield to block the blasts, though the blasts were strong enough that the shield started to crack. Then it flew at him at high velocity and prepared another kick, but this time Danny was ready. He quickly held up his arm and blocked the blow, but it was still so powerful that it knocked him back. He rolled backward several feet and landed on his back, holding his arm tightly as it throbbed with pain. It felt like he'd just been hit with a lead pipe!

He looked up and saw the android descended upon him again, and he knew he'd have to fight back, even if it was against Clockwork's warnings about not using his ghost powers, "Screw it!" as blue rings formed at his waist and separated to reveal his ghost self.

Just before the robot could land another strike, Danny lunged forward and punched it hard across its face. It went flying backward from the force, but recovered with a back flip as Danny shook his hand at his side. He was much stronger in his ghost form, but it still felt like he'd just punched a brick wall. He flew toward his opponent and fired a few ecto-blasts of his own, but the android deflected each with its palms. Danny raised his fist to hit the robot again, but with lightning speed it grabbed his fist in one hand and the other clasped around his throat, clenching tight and cut off his windpipe.

It then changed its grip to his wrist, spun him around and tossed him high into the air. Danny was dazed and didn't quite have time to recover as the android flew up after him and kicked downward into his stomach with its heel, knocking Danny to the ground with enough force to crack the concrete beneath him. He groaned in pain and rolled slowly to his feet. The robot touched back down on the ground, staring at him with cold eyes.

"Alright," Danny spit a bit of green blood to the ground and rubbed his fist under his chin, "Time to stop messing around," and prepared to attack again, green ecto-blasts starting to form in his hands.

Suddenly, he heard loud steps running swiftly toward him. Danny spun around and saw another figure running toward him. He prepared to fight this next attacker as it jumped high into the air, then he froze when he realized what it was. Everything seemed to be moving in slow motion. It was a young boy about his age, his arm outstretched toward him. He was wearing dirty jeans and a dark grey hoodie, the hood pulled over his head, and a red backpack slung over his shoulders. His black hair covered most of his face, but Danny caught a glimpse of his blue eyes.

_It … it's __**him**__! _Danny thought, eyes wide in almost disbelief.

Danny didn't have time to react, and felt the boy's hand grip his shoulder as he descended. He dug his fingers deep into the tender spot between his collarbone and shoulder. Danny shouted in pain as he felt his body forced back into his human form. Just before he hit the ground, a pair of hands wrapped around one of his ankles, spun him in a circle, and violently threw him to the side. The raven-haired teen hit the open lid of the dumpster and fell inside, the lid slamming shut above.

It took him several moments to recover, his vision blurred and head spinning. He tried to stand up, but the mess of garbage beneath his feet was soft and unstable. Stumbling to keep his balance, Danny gripped the edge of the dumpster and cautiously raised the lid. He saw the boy in the grey hoodie standing calm and cool as he stared at the Danny android. They just stood there, staring each other down as they prepared to fight. But, the boy wasn't in ghost mode, didn't he need it if he was going to fight that robot?

The ghost robot lunged toward the boy and swung a fist, but he was fast and blocked the blow as he rolled his body with the force to keep from losing his footing. He blocked punch after punch, nimbly avoiding each attack as he landing a few hits of his own. Then the android knocked him backward with a swift hit with its palm, the boy flew backward but flipped to the side before he was struck with an ecto-blast. He rolled into the side of a car as the robot lunged for him again. With lightning speed, the boy reached around behind him, tore the door off the car, and flung it like a frisbee toward the robot.

It didn't have time to react and was cut in half, spraying green ghost blood in a wide radius as the two halves of its body fell to the concrete with a metal clanking sound. But the upper torso of the android kept moving, trying to crawl away feebly with its arms. The youngster stalked calmly toward it and placed his foot on the back of its head to keep it from moving. He reached down toward the strange mechanism on the back of its neck and tore it off. Sparks scattered, there was a loud buzzing sound, and the torso convulsed momentarily before it lay still. He breathed a loud sigh of relief and dropped the mechanism.

The raven-haired teen paused, then slowly lifted the lid to climb out. Here he was; the person he'd traveled so far to meet, and now, he'd finally found him. Suddenly, they both gasped at the same time as their ghost sense went off. Danny fearfully ducked back down into the dumpster and the boy looked around wildly for the source that set his sense off. Several more android Dannys began to appear as if out of nowhere, circling the boy slowly, as a pride of lions would circle their prey. What the hell _were _those things?!

A long moment of silence passed, then all the Danny droids attacked. Danny watched as the boy blocked and dodged blow after blow, like something straight out of a Matrix movie, only instead of sunglasses and black coats, it was dirty street clothes and black spandex. But with so many more opponents, the battle turned into more of a struggle.

He seemed to be holding his own, roundhouse kicking three at once and throwing them into each other as they tried to tackle him. They were moving so fast Danny could barely see what was happening, but he did see four robot Dannys grab the youngster's arms and hold him still as three others simultaneously punched him in the gut. He cried out loudly as he spit red blood. Danny gasped and started to climb out of the dumpster; he couldn't just sit there and watch him get beaten to death, he had to help him!

**"Stay right where you are! Don't come any closer!" **the boy shouted in a raspy voice, then violently flipped backward over the androids' heads and used the momentum to throw them off his arms to free himself to fight back.

The raven-haired teen did as he was told, more out of fear than anything else. He watched as the fight continued, the boy still managing to hold his own in classic kung fu fashion. He jumped high and delivered a powerful kick to the back of the head of one of the androids, successfully crushing the mechanism and causing it to collapse to the ground in a shower of sparks. One down, only half a dozen more to go.

He held his hands together as if charging an unseen ability and launched some sort of invisible kinetic energy into the middle of the one of the robots, sending it flying into the side of the dumpster. It dented the metal deeply, but it didn't seem to daze it as it dislodged itself from the dent. Seizing the opportunity, Danny quickly reached down and grabbed the device attached to the back of its head and jerked it hard until it snapped off, successfully deactivating the android as it fell to the ground with sparks. He fist-pumped in mild triumph and looked back up at the battlefield.

The boy tore off the other car door and used it as a shield as he blocked attacks and used his free hand and feet to deliver his own attacks, then used the fine edge of the door to decapitate two of the droids at once, spraying ghost blood on the ground and against the door. He swung the door overhead and smashed it down on a droid's head, effectively crushing it, and waved a hand toward the two remaining robots, knocking them backward with the strange invisible kinetic energy. Then the youngster jumped high into the air and came crashed down onto one of the robots, using the door as a guillotine to sever its head. The last robot made a last-ditch effort and lunged after him, punching and kicking at him violently. The boy dodged and delivered a kick to the back of its knee, causing it to lose its balance and giving the boy enough opportunity to grab its head with both hands. The Danny robot tried to struggle, but the youngster jerked his arms viciously and snapped its neck.

He dropped the convulsing body to the ground and staggered slightly, panting heavily from exhaustion. Danny stared in shock at the blood stained ground and the dead, or rather 'deactivated' bodies scattered about. Was it finally over? He lifted the lid once more to climb out, but the sound of helicopters stopped him and he ducked back down. A pair of military helicopters hovered above, guns aimed downward at the boy on the battlefield.

"Daniel Fenton," came a voice on a loudspeaker, "You are under arrest. Surrender now or we will open fire."

The boy's posture tensed as he stared up at the choppers. He took a single step back, then turned and made a mad dash toward the right. They fired their guns at him, leaving a trail of bullet holes across the ground as they tried to follow his movement. Danny saw a spray of blood as a bullet penetrated the youngster's left forearm and another grazed against his leg. He shouted sharply and stumbled slightly before regaining his footing, then leaped up the side of a building and ran along the rooftop and down into an alley. The helicopters tried to follow after him, but it was difficult since they were so big and the buildings were packed so tightly together that they could only fly above and hope they didn't lose his trail.

Danny stayed very still and hunkered down for several minutes, making sure the helicopters were gone before he even dared to move. Cautiously, he lifted the lid of the dumpster one last time and peered around to make sure everything was clear. Then he carefully climbed out and fell clumsily to the ground. He was still in shock at what he had seen and was still trying to make sense of what just happened. Those helicopters, were they the people Grandma Janet mentioned that had been tracking Danny Phantom all these years? And what were those Danny robots? What happened to his future self? Everything was just so confusing, and the thought crossed his mind that he'd missed his chance to speak with the one he'd traveled all this way to meet.

...

After much thought and reflecting, Danny finally came to the conclusion that if his future self hadn't been captured, he would probably be heading home. He was injured and probably moving slowly, and likely wouldn't be too hard to find, but where _was _his home? The raven-haired teen pulled the map out of his pocket and studied the area he was in. If he could at least find the small area the man had circled, he could probably track him down. The thought in the back of his mind crept back in that he may have been captured, but Danny forced the thought back and decided this was really the only option he had if he was to find his future self before his time ran out. Only two days left, then he'd be pulled back to his own time.

His mind finally resolved, Danny set out to find the small area he might be able to find his future. The sky seemed to grow darker, though it was still noon. There was likely a storm brewing, and Danny didn't want to be caught out in the rain, so he hurried along. He wasn't sure how far he'd gone, or how much farther he had to go. All he knew was he had to find his future self, and _fast_. But this city just seemed so huge! How was he even supposed to find this place? The map felt totally worthless as he felt like it just kept leading him in circles. He decided to just memorize the street names and put the map back in his pocket. At least knowing the street names would help.

Danny felt a small wet puddle beneath his foot. He was about to pay no mind to it, until he glanced down and saw that it was dark red, the color of blood. There was a trail that led down the sidewalk in the direction he was following. Was that _his _blood trail? It couldn't really be anything else, unless there was an injured dog around here, so he quickly followed it. The trail twisted and turned down several streets and even over a few fences, as if trying to lose someone. Danny picked up his pace as he tried to catch up to whoever was leaving the blood trail.

Suddenly, just up ahead around a corner in an alley, there was a loud crash. The blood trail led down the alley, so Danny connected the dots as to who was down there. There was a garbage can and a stack of garbage bags along the wall that he could hide behind if he was caught. He carefully peeked around the corner and saw the boy in the dark hoodie, frantically rummaging through a couple more garbage cans, mumbling fast panicked words to himself as he searched for something.

Danny just stared at him, trying to figure out what he was doing, then heard some stones grind under his foot as it shifted to the side. The boy must have heard the sound too and froze like a deer caught in the headlights. The raven-haired teen covered his mouth and dropped down behind the garbage bags just before the boy turned and saw him. Despite the fact that the boy likely wouldn't hurt him, Danny still wasn't sure what exactly he would do if he saw him. Probably run away and he'd have to start his search all over again.

He heard shuffling footsteps as the boy slowly walked out of the alley. Danny peeked around the bags and watched as the boy stepped cautiously onto the sidewalk, glancing up to his left and right to see if there was anyone there. A bundle of cloth he'd pulled out of the garbage was sloppily folded and he clutched it tight to his chest as if it was something precious. There was a clash of thunder above, signalling that the storm was almost upon them, and they could hear the soft pattering as droplets began falling. When the boy felt like everything was clear, he turned and ran down the sidewalk, slightly limping and leaving drops of blood behind. Danny watched him run down the sidewalk and toward a tall rundown, partially collapsed building reading 'Blue Moon Apartments'. It looked like it had burned down sometime in the past, the walls charred and many windows shattered. That must be where he lived!

Danny stood up and quickly but quietly followed, refusing to lose him after he'd searched so hard to find him. The boy approached a side door to the right of the building and glanced around, Danny barely managing to hide behind a corner before he was seen. Then the youngster turned his hand intangible, reached through the door, and turned the knob from inside to unlock the door. He opened the door and disappeared inside. Danny waited a few moments, then ran toward the door. Thankfully the boy hadn't closed the door behind him, being in too much of a hurry to think to close it, and Danny carefully pushed it open.

It led into a squared, spiraling staircase, likely one that was used as either a fire escape or simply alternative access. Danny looked up to see how high it went; it went several stories up, probably all the way to the top. But which floor was he on? The raven-haired teen looked down and saw the blood trail leading up and followed, gently placing each foot on each step to make sure they were safe. He idly wondered how much blood the boy was losing, but pushed the thought aside as he continued up the steps.

Up and up he climbed, the suspense building with each step he took. Then the trail stopped on the tenth floor and led to a door, a bloody handprint on a door to the left where it had been pushed open. Danny slowly pushed it open and peered around the corner. There was a long hallway, carpet had torn patches and the plaster walls were cracked and crumbling. Black scorch marks along the walls showed that it was burned. He tiptoed along, afraid if the floor would collapse beneath his feet.

The blood trail ended at a slightly opened door, and Danny could hear rustling inside. His heart started pounding at the realization that he was finally going to meet his future self. He stood outside the door for several moments, preparing himself and trying to think of what to say, then reached a trembling hand up and slowly pushed the door open a bit to peek inside.

It was an old, small, worn down apartment, the floor torn up in some parts and everything was filthy. The wallpaper was torn, dirty and bloody, as if clawed apart by some animal. Boxes and miscellaneous items scattered around the room. There was a doorway to the left, leading to what looked like a small kitchen area. It looked like whoever lived here before had left in a hurry and left behind most of their possessions. This _hardly _looked like the 'bat cave' Danny imagined his future self living in.

On the other side of the room was a partially cracked door, frantic shuffling and mumbling came from just beyond it. Danny swallowed hard as he crept cautiously toward the door. He placed his trembling palms against the edge and opened it slightly to peek around the corner, and his eyes widened at what he saw.

An old bare mattress, dirty and worn with exposed springs, was pushed up toward the corner of a wall just beneath a window. Seated on the bed was the young boy. He had taken off his hoodie and backpack and was just in his jeans and shoes. There was pair of pliers in his hand that he was using to dig around in an open wound in his arm. He was mumbling frantic words to himself, and Danny couldn't quite hear what he was saying, but he caught a few key phrases, _'that couldn't have been him'_ and _'what would he be doing here?' _Suddenly, he shifted his grip on the pliers, held his breath and yanked them from his arm, growling painfully as he tossed the pliers and the bullet he'd found in his injury to the floor.

Danny leaned forward and the door creaked slightly. The boy gasped and froze, then slowly looked up, his face barely visible beneath the black hair. He looked exactly like Danny, as if he hadn't even aged a day! When he saw his younger self, he inhaled sharply and backed against the wall like a cornered animal. They just stared at each other for a few moments, then Danny took a wary step inside the room. His future self gasped again and scooted far back against the corner of the wall, pulling his knees to his chest and pressing his palms against the wall.

"W-what are you doing here?" he stammered quietly, and paused before shouting, **"You're not supposed to **_**be**_** here!"**

...

Author's Note: I'm having an animation made of the fight scene. I'll post the link when it's finished. x3**  
**


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